Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) filed 12/10/25, 1/13/25, 12/11/25 and 1/19/26 have been considered. The information disclosure statements filed 2/12/25, 3/13/25 and 5/19/25 do not contain the required Size Fee Assertion statement as required for all IDS filed after 1/19/25. These IDS filings have been placed in the file but not considered.
Drawings
The drawings filed 7/27/24 are acceptable to the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: A sound-output device including a vibration speaker and an air-conduction speaker.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Karkkainen et al. (US 2013/0051585 A1), cited by applicant.
Re claim 1: Karkkainen et al. teaches a sound-output device, comprising: a signal processing module (such as processor in circuitry (16), paragraph [0029]), configured (figure 3) to generate a bone-conducted control signal (34) and an air-conducted control signal (32) based on an initial sound signal (30); a vibration speaker (26), configured to generate a bone-conducted sound wave based on the bone-conducted control signal (paragraph [0030]); and an air-conduction speaker (24), configured to generate an air-conducted sound wave based on the air-conducted control signal (paragraph [0030]), wherein the sound output device is configured to output the sound waves within a target frequency range, an amplitude of the air-conducted sound wave within the target frequency range is at least partially higher than an amplitude of the bone- conducted sound wave in a low-frequency portion (see figure 4 teaching sound pressure levels for the air conduction speaker formed by the sound waves, represented by line (36) being at least partially higher than the pressure levels for the vibration speaker formed by the sound waves, represented by line (38).
Re claim 17: see teaching in paragraph [003] in which the bone conducted signals generated by a vibration speaker is placed against a user’s skin. The vibrations produce would therefor vibrate the skin and therefor are perceivable by a user’s skin.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karkkainen et al. in view of Miyake et al. (US D712,375 S).
Re claim 14: The teaching of Karkkainen et al. is discussed above and incorporated herein. Note that apparatus can be used in headphones as taught in paragraphs [0034 and 0044]. Karkkainen et al. however does not teach that the headphone used has a quadrangular structure. Miyake et al. teaches that headphones can have a quadrangular structure (see figure 1) amounting to an ornamental design of a headphone. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate this headphone structure into the headphone arrangement of Karkkainen et al. to predictably provide a specific ornamental design of the headphone. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Karkkainen et al. (US 2013/0051585 A1), cited by applicant in view of Campbell et al. (US 11,910,145 B2).
Re claim 15: The teaching of Karkkainen et al. is discussed above and incorporated herein. Karkkainen et al. does not teach to include a high frequency speaker used in combination with a low frequency speaker as set forth. Campbell et al. teaches in a similar environment that an inputted signal can be split into high and low frequencies with each being frequencies used with a respective speaker (figure 2, elements (210, 230) along with column 4, lines 14-43 providing dedicated speakers that allow for active noise cancellation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to incorporate this two-speaker arrangement into the teaching of Karkkainen et al. to predictably provide dedicated speakers that allow for active noise cancellation. Therefor the claimed subject matter would have been obvious before the filing of the invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13, 16, 18-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The claimed sound-output device including those features of claim 1 that further comprises the generation of a first magnetic field and a third magnetic field that interact with each other causing a membrane to generate the air-conducted sound wave used in combination with a passive membrane used to generate a secondary air-conducted sound wave that is used to regulate the air-conducted sound wave as set forth in claim 2 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claims 3-13 depend upon those features of claim 2/1. The claimed sound-output device that includes those features of clam 15/1 which in combination generates the air conduction control signal by decomposing the initial sound signal into a high frequency signal component and a low frequency signal component; performing a first target operation on the high frequency signal component to obtain a high frequency control signal, and performing a second target operation on the low frequency signal component to obtain a low frequency control signal; and combining the high frequency control signal and the low frequency control signal to generate the air conduction control signal as set forth in claim 16 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The claimed sound-output device that includes those features of clam 1 which further includes in combination those features of claim 18, specifically the air-conduction speaker includes a housing, the housing is coupled to the vibration assembly to generate a second mechanical vibration under an actuation of the first mechanical vibration, the second mechanical vibration is transmitted to the air to form the air-conducted sound wave, and an internal space of the housing serves as a resonant cavity to amplify the air-conducted sound wave, so that the amplitude of the air-conducted sound wave within the target frequency range is at least partially higher than the amplitude of the bone-conducted sound wave in the low-frequency portion is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The claimed sound-output device that including in combination those features of clam 1 which further comprises a sub-band decomposition module configured to decompose an initial sound signal into a plurality of signal components, the plurality of signal components being respectively located in different sub-bands; a vibration signal processing module configured to generate a plurality of bone-conducted output signals according to the plurality of signal components, the plurality of bone-conducted output signals being respectively located in different frequency bands; a sound signal processing module configured to generate a plurality of air- conducted output signals according to the plurality of signal components, the plurality of air-conducted output signals being respectively located in different frequency bands; a plurality of first power amplifiers coupled to the vibration signal processing module and configured to respectively amplify the plurality of bone-conducted output signals into bone-conducted control signals of corresponding frequency bands; and a plurality of second power amplifiers coupled to the sound signal processing module and configured to respectively amplify the plurality of air-conducted output signals into air-conducted control signals of corresponding frequency bands as set forth in claim 19 is neither taught by nor an obvious variation of the art of record. The limitations of claim 20 depend upon those features of claim 19/1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhang et al. (‘603 and 951) are patents obtain by applicant in parent applications. Huang et al. teaches to use a tuning hole along with a mesh to improve a frequency response in a headphone. Slater teaches a related headphone arrangement that incorporates a power amplifier
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/ANDREW SNIEZEK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
/A.S./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693 3/25/26